Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!convex!killer!mit-eddie!rutgers!sunybcs!jmpiazza
From: jmpiazza@sunybcs.uucp (Joseph M. Piazza)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac
Subject: Typing (was Re: Apple Gets Greedier (Read it and Weep!))
Message-ID: <1625@cs.Buffalo.EDU>
Date: 30 Sep 88 18:57:23 GMT
References: <1018@lakesys.UUCP> <870239@hpcilzb.HP.COM> <28502@think.UUCP>
Sender: nobody@cs.Buffalo.EDU
Reply-To: jmpiazza@sunybcs.UUCP (Joseph M. Piazza)
Organization: SUNY/Buffalo Computer Science
Lines: 57

In article <28502@think.UUCP> barmar@kulla.think.com.UUCP (Barry Margolin) writes:
>In article <870239@hpcilzb.HP.COM> tedj@hpcilzb.HP.COM (Ted Johnson) writes:
>>I agree.  Most (non-secretarial) people who don't deal with computers 
>>regularly aren't touch typists.  So if they have to type a lot (like
>>on an IBM PC) vs. using a mouse, they will probably not be very pleased.
>
>I always find statements like this surprising.  Didn't most people who
>have to use computers on a regular basis go to high school, and
>probably also college?  Didn't they have to turn in term papers and
>reports?  Am I the only one whose high school teachers required the
>papers to be typed?  I would have been lost in high school with my
>jr.high typing class.  I'm no speed demon (althought I've gotten much
>faster since I started using computer text editors, since I don't
>worry so much about accuracy), ...

>... I think keyboard interfaces are more
>efficient for anyone with at least minimal typing ability.  I can type
>"rm foobar" much faster than I can reach for the mouse, find the icon,
>drag it to the trash, and then get my hand back to home row.

	Yes, but how long does it take you you to make a directory listing
and find the name of the proper file?  And then realize you blew away the
wrong file because your "accuracy" was lacking?

	The problem is not simply  "Which is faster?  Typing a command line or
dragging an icon?"  We need to compare the method used to perform the entire
task.  It is much easier for me to seek and "grab" with a mouse then to
lookup and  a c c u r a t e l y   reproduce the file name; not to mention
generating the directory listing in the first place.  It is not always
easy, if not downright impossible, to get the directory list from inside
some program in a text only system.

>Both have their place, and one of the things I like about the Symbolics
>system I use at work is that it provides both styles simultaneously.

	Exaclty.  The Amiga also uses a dual approach.  WordPerfect on the
Amiga lets you make menu selections using the mouse or the keyboard (the
menu items are indexed [a, b, c, ...])

	Interestingly, the solution resides in the software -- not
the hardware.  I believe it  i s  possible to generate a pseudo-graphic
interface in a text only system.   Much like how full screen editors replaced
line editors.

Flip side,

	joe piazza

---
In capitalism, man exploits man.
In communism, it's the other way around.

CS Dept. SUNY at Buffalo 14260
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BITNET: jmpiazza@sunybcs.BITNET         Internet: jmpiazza@cs.Buffalo.edu

>Barry Margolin >barmar@think.com >{uunet,harvard}!think!barmar